Use of shopping cart to collect and purchase items selected from multiple web sites

ABSTRACT

A system and method are disclosed that enable a personal shopping cart to be used to select items from multiple web sites of multiple business entities, and to place a single order for the selected items. The shopping cart may remain persistent over multiple sessions of the user.

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/883,770,filed Jun. 27, 1997 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,141.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to electronic commerce. Specifically, thisinvention relates to information processing methods for marketing andselling goods via the Internet or other interactive network.

APPENDICES

Included as Appendices A and B are documents that illustrate a preferredembodiment of the invention. These materials form part of the disclosureof the specification.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

With the increasing popularity of the Internet and the World Wide Web,it has become common for merchants to set up Web sites for marketing andselling goods. One example of such a Web site is the online bookstoresite of AMAZON.COM, the assignee of the present invention. Via thissite, consumers can access and place orders from an online book catalogthat includes millions of titles.

One problem commonly encountered by online merchants is an inability toeffectively market goods via their Web sites. Because the customercannot physically inspect the products via the Web site, and typicallycannot talk to a salesperson, it is desirable that the site provideaccess to product reviews, product ratings, and other information thatcan be relied on by the customer to make an informed decision. In manycases, however, the merchant lacks the resources needed to generate orotherwise obtain such information, especially if the merchant sells alarge and diverse selection of goods. For example, it would not bepractical for AMAZON.COM to prepare reviews of all, or even asignificant portion of, the millions of titles available on theAMAZON.COM site.

Another problem commonly faced by online merchants is an inability toefficiently attract potential consumers to their Web sites. One way ofattracting consumers has been to market the site through television,newspaper and Internet advertisements. However, advertising a site usingconventional methods can be expensive, and can consume significant humanresources. In addition, it is often difficult or impossible to evaluatethe effectiveness of a given advertisement.

The present invention addresses these and other problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A computer-implemented method of facilitating the purchase of itemsselected from multiple different web sites is disclosed. The methodcomprises tracking a user's selections of multiple items from multipledifferent web sites, wherein each web site corresponds to a differentrespective business entity and Internet domain name. The method alsocomprises presenting the multiple items to the user as contents of asingle, personal shopping cart; and providing the user an option topurchase the multiple items from the shopping cart as a singletransaction. The method farther comprises maintaining a record of theshopping cart contents on a server between user sessions such that theshopping cart remains persistent over multiple user sessions. The seweris separate from a computer used by the user to make the selections.

Also disclosed is a system for facilitating the purchase of itemsselected by a user from multiple different web sites of multipledifferent business entities. The system comprises a shopping cartsoftware module which records items selected by the user from themultiple web sites within a personal shopping cart on a sewer, such thatthe shopping cart remains persistent on the server over multiple usersessions, wherein the items are selected by the user on a computer thatruns a web browser, the computer being separate from the server. Thesystem also comprises an ordering software module that enables the userto purchase the items recorded within the shopping cart, including itemsselected from web sites of multiple different business entities, byplacing a single order.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages of the invention will now bedescribed with reference to the drawings of certain preferredembodiments, which are intended to illustrate and not to limit theinvention, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a high-level architectural drawing illustrating the primarycomponents of a system that operates in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is an architectural drawing and flow diagram illustrating theenrollment function of the system.

FIGS. 3 a-3 c are respective screen displays further illustrating theenrollment function.

FIG. 4 illustrates a URL format used to embed referral links within Webdocuments in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 5 is an architectural drawing and flow diagram illustrating areferral transaction sequence in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a screen display illustrating an HTML catalog document of theassociate's Web site.

FIG. 7 is an HTML listing illustrating a preferred method for embeddinga referral link within a catalog document of an associate's Web site.

FIG. 8 is a screen display illustrating an HTML catalog document detailpage of the merchant Web site.

FIG. 9 is a screen display illustrating a preferred shopping cartprocessing method in accordance with the present invention.

FIGS. 10 a-10 c are screen displays illustrating HTML documents of themerchant Web site.

In the drawings, the first digit of each reference number indicates theFigure number in which the referenced item first appears.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

To facilitate a complete understanding of the invention, the descriptionof the preferred embodiment is arranged within the following sections:

1. GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND ACRONYMS

2. OVERVIEW OF SYSTEM COMPONENTS AND OPERATION

3. ASSOCIATE ENROLLMENT FUNCTION

4. REFERRAL TRANSACTION FUNCTION

5. UNIFIED SHOPPING CART FUNCTION

6. REPORT GENERATION FUNCTION

7. CONCLUSION

1. GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND ACRONYMS

The following terms and acronyms are used throughout the detaileddescription:

-   -   Client-Server. A model of interaction in a distributed system in        which a program at one site sends a request to a program at        another site and waits for a response. The requesting program is        called the “client,” and the program which responds to the        request is called the “server.” In the context of the World Wide        Web (discussed below), the client is a “Web browser” (or simply        “browser”) which runs on a computer of a user; the program which        responds to browser requests by serving Web pages is commonly        referred to as a “Web server.”    -   Hyperlink. A navigational link from one document to another, or        from one portion (or component) of a document to another.        Typically, a hyperlink is displayed as a highlighted word or        phrase that can be selected by clicking on it using a mouse to        jump to the associated document or documented portion.    -   Hypertext System. A computer-based informational system in which        documents (and possibly other types of data entities) are linked        together via hyperlinks to form a user-navigable “web.”    -   Internet. A collection of interconnected (public and/or private)        networks that are linked together by a set of standard protocols        (such as TCP/IP and HTTP) to form a global, distributed network.        (While this term is intended to refer to what is now commonly        known as the Internet, it is also intended to encompass        variations which may be made in the future, including changes        and additions to existing standard protocols.)    -   World Wide Web (“Web”). Used herein to refer generally to        both (i) a distributed collection of interlinked, user-viewable        hypertext documents (commonly referred to as Web documents or        Web pages) that are accessible via the Internet, and (ii) the        client and server software components which provide user access        to such documents using standardized Internet protocols.        Currently, the primary standard protocol for allowing        applications to locate and acquire Web documents is HTTP, and        the Web pages are encoded using HTML. However, the terms “Web”        and “World Wide Web” are intended to encompass future markup        languages and transport protocols which may be used in place of        (or in addition to) HTML and HTTP.    -   Web Site. A computer system that serves informational content        over a network using the standard protocols of the World Wide        Web. Typically, a Web site corresponds to a particular Internet        domain name, such as “amazon.com,” and includes the content        associated with a particular organization. As used herein, the        term is generally intended to encompass both (i) the        hardware/software server components that serve the informational        content over the network, and (ii) the “back end”        hardware/software components, including any non-standard or        specialized components, that interact with the server components        to perform services for Web site users.    -   HTML (HyperText Markup Language). A standard coding convention        and set of codes for attaching presentation and linking        attributes to informational content within documents. (HTML 2.0        is currently the primary standard used for generating Web        documents.) During a document authoring stage, the HTML codes        (referred to as “tags”) are embedded within the informational        content of the document. When the Web document (or HTML        document) is subsequently transferred from a Web server to a        browser, the codes are interpreted by the browser and used to        parse and display the document. Additionally in specifying how        the Web browser is to display the document, HTML tags can be        used to create links to other Web documents (commonly referred        to as “hyperlinks”). For more information on HTML, see Ian S.        Graham, The HTML Source Book, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1995        (ISBN 0471-11894-4).    -   HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol). The standard World Wide Web        client-server protocol used for the exchange of information        (such as HTML documents, and client requests for such documents)        between a browser and a Web server. HTTP includes a number of        different types of messages which can be sent from the client to        the server to request different types of server actions. For        example, a “GET” message, which has the format GET <URL>, causes        the server to return the document or file located at the        specified URL.    -   ISBN (International Standard Book Number). A numerical        identifier associated with books, pamphlets, educational kits,        microforms, CD-ROM and braille publications in circulation        throughout the world. The ISBN is a ten-digit number assigned to        each published title that provides an unduplicated,        internationally recognized “identity.”    -   URL (Uniform Resource Locator). A unique address which fully        specifies the location of a file or other resource on the        Internet. The general format of a URL is protocol://machine        address:port/path/filename. The port specification is optional,        and if none is entered by the user, the browser defaults to the        standard port for whatever service is specified as the protocol.        For example, if HTTP is specified as the protocol, the browser        will use the HTTP default port of 80.    -   Cookies. A technology that enables a Web server to retrieve        information from a user's computer that reveals prior browsing        activities of the user. The informational item stored on the        user's computer (typically on the hard drive) is commonly        referred to as a “cookie.” Many standard Web browsers support        the use of cookies.    -   PUSH Technology. An information dissemination technology used to        send data to users over a network. In contrast to the World Wide        Web (a “pull” technology), in which the client browser must        request a Web page before it is sent, PUSH protocols send the        informational content to the user computer automatically,        typically based on information pre-specified by the user.

2. OVERVIEW OF SYSTEM COMPONENTS AND OPERATION

FIG. 1 illustrates the general architecture of a referral system thatoperates in accordance with the present invention. The system includes acustomer computer 108, an associate Web site 100, and a merchant Website 106, all of which are linked together by the Internet 104. Thecustomer computer 108 may be any type of computing device that allows auser (“customer”) to interactively browse Web sites via a Web browser112. For example, the customer computer 108 may be a personal computer(PC) that runs the Windows NT operating system.

The merchant Web site 106 is a site that provides various functionalityfor allowing customers to purchase products, including products selectedfrom the Web sites of associates. Typically, this site will be operatedby a business entity (referred to herein as the “merchant”) that handlesthe various order processing, shipping, collections, and customerservice tasks associated with the sale of goods. In an implementationdescribed herein, the merchant Web site 106 is the site of AMAZON.COM.

As described below, the site 106 includes enrollment software thatimplements an online registration process for allowing other entities(individuals, companies, etc.) to register as associates. An entityenrolling as an associate provides the merchant Web site 106 with acompleted, online registration application that is processed by anenrollment software program (“SW”) at the site 106. The enrollmentsoftware creates an entry in the associate database 160 according to theinformation provided by the enrolling associate.

The associate's Web site 100 is the site of an entity that hasregistered with the merchant, via the online registration process, tomarket a subset of the merchant's goods in return for compensation(preferably a performance-based commission). Typically, this site isowned and operated by an individual or business entity (“associate”)that is not in the same business as that of the merchant. For example,in the context of the AMAZON.COM Associates Program, the associate maybe an individual that is in the business of rating mystery novels.

As described below, because the merchant handles the tasks of processingonline orders, shipping products, collecting payment, and providingcustomer service, the associate need not be concerned with these tasks.Thus, the associate can effectively become an online retailerimmediately, by simply enrolling as an associate and setting up a Website.

In addition, because the merchant Web site 106 includes software forautomating the primary functions of doing business with associates (suchas associate enrollment, referral transaction processing, and commissiontracking and payment), the architecture allows the merchant to dobusiness with large numbers (e.g., thousands) of associates with minimalsupervision by the merchant. Further, because the commissions paid tothe associates are performance-based, there is little or no downside tothe merchant to enrolling marginally-productive associates that providerelatively small numbers of referrals.

In operation, the customer accesses the associate's Web site 100 using astandard Web browser 112, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer orNetscape's Navigator, which uses the HTTP protocol to communicate with aWeb server 116 of the associate's site 100. The Web server 116 accessesa local store of catalog documents 120 (in the form of HTML or “Web”documents) which can be requested, retrieved and viewed by the customervia the Web browser 112. These catalog documents 120 include informationgenerated by the associate about the various products featured on theassociate's Web site 100. Preferably, this information includeseditorial descriptions, reviews, and/or recommendations of the productsthat assist customers in making informed purchasing decisions.

The catalog documents 120 served by the associate's site 100 includespecial hyperlinks (to Web pages of the merchant Web site 106) forallowing consumers to select products for prospective purchase.Typically, one such hyperlink is provided for each product displayed onthe associate's Web site 100. Alternatively, a hyperlink may be providedfor a group of products. When a customer selects (e.g., clicks on) thehyperlink associated with a particular product, the customer isautomatically connected to the merchant Web site 106, and presented withvarious options (included within Web pages 136 served from the merchantWeb site 106) for allowing the customer to purchase the selected productfrom the merchant. The hyperlink thus serves as a referral mechanism forreferring the customer to the merchant Web site 106.

As described in detail below, the special hyperlinks (also referred toherein as “referral links”) of the associate's catalog documents areprovided in association with additional information (embedded in apre-defined format within the associated URL) that is transmitted to themerchant Web site 106 in response to selection of the link. In oneimplementation, this information includes a unique identifier of theassociate (assigned upon enrollment) and a unique identifier of theselected product (such as the ISBN of a book). A computer program 144 ofthe merchant Web site 106 uses this information to identify theassociate that was the source of the referral, and to credit the sale(referral) to the associate if the customer subsequently purchases theproduct (or group of products). (In other implementations, the creditingof the associate may occur without regard to whether the product ispurchased.) Commission payments can then be paid to the associates on aperiodic basis (such as once a month). In one implementation, thecommission payments are made electronically, via the computer program144, without the need for involvement by the merchant.

In one implementation, the merchant Web site 106 comprises a productinformation database (not shown) that stores product pricinginformation. The computer program 144 of the merchant site 106 uses thispricing information to calculate the proper commission or referralpayment.

Although the implementation described herein uses monetary commissionsto compensate the associates for referrals, other forms of compensationcan be used. For example, an associate (and/or the associate'scustomers) could be given a discount on products or services sold by themerchant.

In one implementation of the merchant Web site 106, selection of areferral link causes a product detail page 136 to be displayed on thecustomer computer 108. This detail page 136 is served by the merchantWeb site 106, and includes various information provided by the merchant(price, inventory, standard product description, etc.) about theselected product. From this page, a hyperlink can be selected thatallows the selected product to be added to a customer “shopping cart.”

The shopping cart is a customer-specific data structure that isgenerated and maintained (within a shopping cart database 152) byexecutable code of the merchant site 106. The database may be any typeof data repository including, for example, an SQL table or ASCII textfile. The information stored within the shopping cart includes a list ofthe products that have been selected by the customer for prospectivepurchase, together with an identifier of the referring associate (ifany) corresponding to each such product. In one implementation, eachshopping cart persists on the site 106 for an extended period of time(such as one week) following the most recent access by the customer,allowing the customer to conduct extended shopping sessions. When thecustomer proceeds to a check-out area of the merchant site 106 andsubmits an order for the selected products, the associate identifiersstored within the customer's shopping cart are used to appropriatelycredit the accounts of the referring associates. Although the shoppingcart implementation provides an efficient mechanism for tracking andcrediting referral events, referrals can alternatively be creditedwithout the use of a shopping cart, such as by crediting the associateat the time of, or during the same shopping session as, the referral.

Because identity of the customer is normally unknown to the merchant Website 106 at the time of the referral event, the site 106 uses cookiestechnology to identify the customer, so that the customer can beassociated with any existing shopping cart created during previousvisits to the site 106. This process involves retrieving the cookie 140from the customer computer 108 with the Web server 132, and thenexecuting a computer program 144 that compares the cookie againstinformation stored in a customer data structure 148. If no shopping cartexists for the customer, or if no cookie exists on the customer computer108, a shopping cart structure is created for the user. Any of a varietyof alternative techniques can be used to identify the customer,including prompting the customer for a user ID, and/or using URLinformation returned by the customer's Web browser.

Although the embodiment described herein uses Web technology todisseminate the catalog documents, any of a variety of document typesand electronic dissemination technologies can be used. For example, theassociate's catalog documents may be in the form of hypertextual e-mailmessages that are disseminated by a list server, or PUSH documentsdisseminated by a PUSH server. As interactive television,video-on-demand, and Web TV technologies continue to evolve, it iscontemplated that the “catalog documents” will include videoadvertisements that are displayed to the customer on a televisionscreen. Further, although hypertextual catalog documents are preferablyused, it is possible for an associate to use non-hypertextual catalogs(including paper-based product catalogs) that simply instruct thecustomer to manually enter the appropriate URL (including the referralinformation) into a browser program.

In addition, although the system is described in the context of “the”associate's Web site, it should be recognized that a given associate candisseminate its catalog documents (using the single associate IDassigned during online registration) from multiple different sites,including sites that use different document formats and transferprotocols. Further, although the system is described herein in thecontext of a merchant that sells products, it will be recognized thatthe architecture can also be used to sell services, including onlineservices that are provided over the Internet.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the use of theURL-embedded referral information to identify the associate allows theassociate to be identified, and properly credited for the referral, witha high degree of reliability. For example, in contrast to conventionaluser tracking techniques, the present method allows the associate to bereliably identified even if the associate Web site 100 operates behind afirewall. In addition, the method provides a high degree of flexibilityto the associate. For example, the associate can change to a differentInternet service provider, and can use or switch between multiplecatalog dissemination techniques (Web, e-mail, PUSH, etc.), withoutaffecting the ability of the merchant Web site 106 to identify andcredit the associate. Moreover, the associate can freely modify itsproduct offerings—without the need for involvement by the merchant—bysimply updating product descriptions and corresponding referral linkswithin the catalog.

A significant benefit of the architecture is that it allows the task ofmarketing the merchant's products to be efficiently distributed amongentities that have established reputations and exposure within theirrespective fields. In the context of the AMAZON.COM Internet bookstore,for example, a well-established computer company can set up an associatesite (or an area of an existing site) to recommend its favorite books onprogramming languages; and an Italian chef can set up a site torecommend his favorite cookbooks on Italian cooking. In implementationsthat involve sales of other types of products (such as audio/videoequipment), the associates may, for example, include testinglaboratories that publish test results.

Because the associate enrollment and referral tracking functions areautomated (in whole or in part), the referral services provided by theassociates take place with little or no human supervision orintervention by the merchant. In addition, because the payments to theassociates are performance-based (e.g., based on the number of salesresulting from associate referrals), the merchant need not be concernedwith the effectiveness of any given associate site.

The system and method also provide an efficient mechanism for exposingthe merchant and the merchant Web site 106 to the public by encouragingothers (associates) to set up outgoing links to the merchant's Web site.For example, this may be beneficial here the merchant Web site 106 isconfigured to support direct sales (i.e., sales that do not involvereferrals from associates), as is this case with the site of AMAZON.COM.

The various components and functions of the referral system aredescribed in further detail below.

3. ASSOCIATE ENROLLMENT FUNCTION

As indicated above, the merchant Web site 106 includes automatedenrollment software (FIG. 1) for allowing an entity to apply, via theInternet, to operate as an associate. The registration process mayinclude the following: (i) the presentation of an online businessagreement to the applicants, (ii) the use of an automated “agent” toscan the application text for key inputted terms, including vulgaritiesand other terms that may serve as a basis for denying the application,(iii) the automated generation and assignment of a unique associate ID(also referred to herein as the “store ID”) to an applicant, and (iv)the automated electronic transmission of referral link embeddinginstructions to the applicant.

FIG. 2 illustrates the general flow of information between componentswhen an associate applicant uses a computer 200 to enroll as anassociate. The computer 200 includes a conventional Web browser 204which communicates with the merchant Web server 132 using the HTTPprotocol. The Web server 132 accesses a local store 136 of HTMLdocuments (Web pages) which can be requested, retrieved and viewed bythe applicant via the Web browser 204. These documents may, for example,include information about registering online to become an associate.Access to the merchant Web site 106 and the enrollment function isavailable to any client computer 200, and the enrolling associate is notrequired to have an established Web site at the time of enrollment.

As further illustrated in FIG. 2, the enrolling associate begins theenrollment function by selecting the proper hyperlink from the merchantWeb page 136 containing online registration instructions. The merchantWeb server 132 accesses a local store of HTML documents 136 and returnsan online registration application document 208 (also shown in FIGS. 3a-3 c) to the enrolling associate's Web browser 204. The enrollingassociate can then fill out the detailed online application form 208.

Referring to FIGS. 3 a-3 c, a preferred embodiment of the onlineapplication form 208 is shown. The application requests informationabout the enrolling associate, including the Web server to be used forthe associate's Web site, the associate Web site's descriptive name, andthe e-mail address of the enrolling associate. Many alternative formatsto the online application form are possible and FIGS. 3 a-3 c are onlyrepresentative of the types of information that may be requested.

With further reference to FIG. 2, once the electronic application form204 is completed by the enrolling associate, it is sent from theassociate's computer 200 to the merchant Web server 132 for furtherprocessing. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, otherforms of enrollment processing may be used, including but not limited toregular mail and electronic mail. In addition, although the automatedenrollment function is preferably handled by the same computer systemthat handles the referral processing function, these functions could beperformed by dedicated, physically distinct computer systems or sites.

In response to submission of the enrollment form, the merchant Webserver 132 initiates a computer program 144 comprising enrollmentsoftware that processes the information contained on the electronicapplication form 208. In one implementation, an agent is used to scanthe application text for pre-specified terms, and to flag theapplication for further review (such as by a staff member) if such aterm exists. If no such term is found, and the application is complete,the enrollment software automatically accepts the application.

As part of this online registration, once the application has beenprocessed (either automatically or with human intervention), theenrollment software generates a unique store ID to be assigned to theassociate. In addition, the enrollment software creates a database entrycorresponding to the enrolling associate and stores the store ID and theinformation provided by the enrolling associate as a unique entry in anassociate database 160. The database may be any type of data repositoryincluding, for example, an SQL table or ASCII text file. This databaseentry allows the merchant Web site 106 to properly track and creditassociate referrals, as further described below.

Next, the computer program 144 automatically formats and transmits anelectronic mail message to the e-mail address of the approved associate.This electronic mail message provides detailed information about settingup an associate's Web site, including instructions on how to create HTMLdocuments with referral links. These instructions specify a predefinedformat for embedding the store ID and unique product IDs with the HTMLlink structures. In addition, the e-mail message includes the uniquestore ID (generated by the enrollment software), and includesinstructions on obtaining unique product IDs. The associate can obtainthe unique product IDs by browsing the merchant Web site 106.Alternatively, the unique product IDs may be obtained by the associatethrough a specific electronic mail request, or may be provided by themerchant Web site when the initial electronic mail response is sent. Apreferred set of linking instructions that are sent to new associates isincluded as Appendix A.

FIG. 4 illustrates a preferred format of a URL 400 used by an associateto create a referral link to the merchant Web site. This format isrecognized by parsing software (FIG. 1) that runs on the merchant Website. The URL 400 comprises the merchant Web server information 402, theunique product ID 404, the unique store ID 406, and an associatecommission scheme ID 408. The unique store ID 406 represents theinformation created and stored in the associate's database during theassociate enrollment process described above. In the AMAZON.COMimplementation, the unique product ID 404 is the ISBN of a book that isavailable from the AMAZON.COM Web site. The associate commission schemeID is an optional feature that can be used to specify a commissionpercentage or method for calculating the referral commission.

Upon receipt of the special linking instructions, the associate canbegin to build the content (catalog documents) of the associate's Website, including the descriptions of the products to be featured on thesite. An associate can begin to refer customers to the merchant Web site106 at anytime; however, no credit may be given to the associate forreferred customers until the associate has included properly-formattedreferral links within its product catalog. Additionally, referral creditmay be withheld if the merchant has not yet authenticated and qualifiedthe associate Web site for business.

4. REFERRAL TRANSACTION FUNCTION

A preferred method for processing referral events will now be describedwith reference to FIGS. 5-7. Referring to FIG. 5, which depicts anexample sequence of events, a customer accesses an associate's Web site100 via the customer computer 108. The customer computer 108 includes aconventional Web browser 112 which communicates with the associate's Webserver 116 using the HTTP protocol. As depicted by events A and B, theWeb server 116 accesses a local store of catalog documents 120 (Webpages) which can be requested, retrieved and viewed by the customer viathe Web browser 112. As described above, these catalog documents 120include information about the various products featured at theassociate's Web site 100. Preferably, this information includeseditorial descriptions, reviews, and recommendations generated by theassociate.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example HTML catalog document (Web page) 120 inaccordance with the present invention. The customer views the productcatalog document 120 via the Web browser 112 in order to select aparticular product (book) offered through the associate's Web site 100.In this example, the catalog document 120 comprises a graphic icon 600that is a scaled-down replica of an actual book cover. The graphic icon600 also functions as a hyperlink, allowing the customer to click on theicon with a mouse in order to link to the merchant Web site 106. Thedocument 120 includes the title 602 and author of the book 604, andincludes an editorial description and recommendation of the book 606from the associate. The catalog document 120 also contains anothertextual hyperlink 608, allowing the customer to link to the merchant Website 106 and initiate referral transaction processing. Typically, theassociate's product catalog (which may include multiple catalog pages)contains several referral links (with different product IDs), eachcorresponding to a different product sold by the merchant.

FIG. 7 is an HTML source code listing which illustrates a preferredformat for including a referral link within an HTML catalog document.The source code of FIG. 7 corresponds to the product catalog document120 illustrated in FIG. 6. In this example, the referral link (includedbetween the HTML anchor tags “A” and “/A”) consists of the URLhttp://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0809232022/skinetA/ and thecorresponding textual description “Click here to order Terrain Skiing!.”The URL is identified as such by the standard HREF (hypertext reference)tag. The portion of the URL preceding “skinetA” uniquely identifies aproduct detail page (of the AMAZON.COM site) of a book having an ISBN of0809232022. As described below, the “skinetA” portion of the URLidentifies both the referring associate and a commission scheme. Thereferral link is included within the document such that selection by thecustomer of the text “Click here to order Terrain Skiing!” causes theWeb browser 112 to transmit the URL on the Internet 104 via a standardHTTP message.

Further referring to FIG. 5, upon clicking or otherwise selecting thereferral link 608 of the associate's catalog document 120 (event C), theWeb browser 112 communicates with the merchant Web server 132 (eventsD-F) to access HTML documents 136 of the merchant Web site 106.Initially, the customer is shown a product detail page that providesdetailed information about the selected product, and allows the customerto add the selected product to the shopping cart (described below). TheWeb server 132 also serves Web pages (including dynamically-generatedpages) that display and allow the customer to edit the contents of theshopping cart, and that allow the customer to proceed to a check-outarea to order the selected products.

Once the customer has linked to the merchant Web site 106, the customercan use the navigational controls of the Web browser 112 to return tothe associate's Web site 100. In addition, the detail page and/or theshopping cart page may be provided with a hyperlink to allow thecustomer to return to the associate's Web site 100. Another alternativeis for the associate Web site 100 to be created using an HTML frameformat. The bottom frame can be designated as the target area frame forthe merchant's Web site 106. The top frame can provide navigationalcontrols for the customer to return to the associate's Web site 100after selection of a particular product at the merchant's Web site 106.This allows the customer to maintain an associate's Web page frame whileviewing and processing product purchases at the merchant's Web site 106.

Following the referral event, the customer can browse the merchant Website 106 for additional products, and can add these products to theshopping cart. In one configuration option, the referring associate isgiven commission credit for all additional products thereafter selected(during the current browsing session) from the merchant Web site 106,assuming the customer subsequently purchases these products. In anotherconfiguration option, the associate is only credited for the purchase ofthe product that was the subject of the referral.

The sequence of events that takes place when the customer clicks on thereferral link 608 will now be described in greater detail. Before theproduct detail page 136 is sent to the customer's Web browser 112, themerchant Web server 132 initiates a computer program 144 to conductseveral processing steps. As depicted by event E1 in FIG. 5, thecomputer program 144 executes parsing software (FIG. 1) to parse the URLpassed to the merchant Web server 132. The parsing software extracts theunique product ID (ISBN), the unique store ID associated with aparticular associate, and an optional associate commission ID from theURL data string. For example, if the URL string is

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0809232022/mystoreA/,

the parsing software parses the string to extract the unique product ID(ISBN) of 0809232022, the unique store ID of “mystore,” and thecommission ID of “A.” In one implementation, the software 144 uses thecommission ID to calculate an appropriate commission (e.g. 10% ofmerchant's sales price) to apply to the associate's account. Asdescribed below, if the customer subsequently adds the selected productto the shopping cart, the extracted information is recorded within ashopping cart data structure that corresponds to the customer.

5. UNIFIED SHOPPING CART FUNCTION

As discussed above, the present invention provides a system formaintaining a unified shopping cart that stores product informationassociated with product referrals from multiple Web sites, and keepstrack of the sources (associates) of such referrals. One benefit of thisfeature is that it enables the customer to perform a single “check out”to purchase products from multiple Web sites. Additionally, this featureallows the merchant Web site 106 to accurately track and credit eachassociate, on a per-product-sale basis, that has referred a customer.For example, if, upon “check-out” from the merchant Web site 106, thecustomer has three books listed in the shopping cart, each of whichresulted from a referral from a different associate Web site, eachassociate will be credited for its respective referral. While theshopping cart feature is particularly useful in the context of thedisclosed referral system, the feature can also be applied to othertypes of Internet shopping systems that support shopping from multipleWeb sites, including systems that use remote “agents” to monitor Websites based on pre-specified selections of the customer.

The data structures and processing steps that implement the shoppingcart will now be described with further reference to FIG. 5. Asindicated above, the shopping cart maintains a customer-specific recordof the products that have been selected by the customer, including theidentities of any associate Web sites that acted as referral sourceswith respect to such products. Preferably, the computer program 144maintains this information in a data structure that is stored on the Website 106 for an extended period of time (such as one week) since thelast access to the shopping cart by the user. This allows the customerto discontinue and later resume a shopping session without loss of theshopping cart data.

Upon customer selection of a referral link, the computer program 144utilizes the customer cookie information 140 passed through an HTTP callto determine whether the particular customer (or technically, thecustomer computer 108) already has an open shopping cart (event E2). Aspart of this process, the computer program 144 executes cookieprocessing software (FIG. 1), which assigns a unique customer ID to thecustomer based on the cookie information 140. If the customer's Webbrowser 112 does not support the use of cookies (or if the cookiesfeature is disabled) the program 144 uses URL information received fromthe Web browser to generate the customer ID.

The customer ID is in turn used by the software 144 to identify anyshopping cart currently associated with the customer. If no shoppingcart exists for the customer, a new shopping cart structure (whichincludes the customer ID) is generated within the shopping cart database152. The customer ID is also stored in a customer database 148. Thealgorithm used by the program 144 to generate the customer IDs is suchthat a cookie retrieved from the same customer computer willconsistently produce the same customer ID. Thus, assuming the customeralways uses the same computer to access the merchant site 106, and thatthe browser 112 supports the use of cookies, the customer will beassigned the same customer ID, and will be associated with any existingshopping cart.

In one implementation, once the customer has been referred to themerchant site 106 and the customer ID has been determined, the merchantsite dynamically includes this ID within hyperlinks of the detail pageand other Web pages that are sent to the customer computer 108. When thecustomer subsequently selects such a link such as to add a selectedproduct to the shopping cart), the customer ID is automaticallytransmitted to the merchant site 106 as part of the HTTP message. Thisallows the merchant site 106 to identify the customer (and shoppingcart) without the need to re-request the cookie from the customercomputer.

During the process of displaying detail pages and allowing the customerto add products to the shopping cart, neither the merchant site 106 northe associate sites have access to the customer's personal information(name, address, credit card number, etc.). Thus, the systemadvantageously allows the customer to shop anonymously. Only when anorder is actually submitted does the merchant site 106 obtain access tothe customer's information, and at no time is the information providedto the associate sites.

With further reference to FIG. 5, the shopping cart is stored as a tableor data structure within the shopping cart database 152, along withindividual product selections made by customers. If the customer has anexisting shopping cart, the computer program 144 will create anotherproduct selection entry within the shopping cart database 152, asindicated generally by event E3. If the customer does not have anexisting shopping cart, then the computer program will create a newshopping cart data structure within the shopping cart database 152. Theproduct selection entry within the shopping cart database 152 includesthe store ID and product ID. If a product is selected directly from themerchant Web site 106, the corresponding store ID field may be blank orencoded with merchant-specific information. Other information may bestored in the shopping cart to implement the specific businessprocedures of the particular merchant.

When the customer subsequently purchases a product or products containedin the shopping cart, the associate's unique store ID maintained in theassociate data structure 160 is used to appropriately credit theassociate's account. During this process (or at the time of thereferral) the computer program 144 determines whether the store IDrepresents a valid (enrolled) associate in the associates database 160.The processing at the merchant Web site 106 maintaining the associate'sstore ID in the shopping cart allows the system to obtain pricinginformation for a product and associate. In this way, the computerprogram 144 can be configured to generate special discounts or pricingincentives to the customer or associate depending on a particularbusiness relationship.

The shopping cart stored in the shopping cart database 152 is maintainedby the computer program 144 running at the merchant Web site 106 thatmonitors the open entries (non-closed shopping carts) in the shoppingcart database 152. The shopping cart database 152 includes the customerID, the date the shopping cart was opened (open date), and the date lastaccessed (touch date). The shopping cart database is monitored by thecomputer program 144 to purge all shopping carts that have been inactive(untouched) for a pre-defined period of time, such as one week.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of an HTML catalog document (Web page) 136corresponding to the product detail page. After processing a referralURL, the merchant Web server 132 sends the detail page 136 to thecustomer's Web browser 112 to provide the customer with additionalinformation about the selected product. The product detail page includesthe merchant's information (price, standard description, etc.) about theselected product. The product detail page 136 is shown with the URLpassed to the customer Web browser 112 from the merchant Web server.

The URL (shown at the top of FIG. 8) comprises the unique customer ID800 (obtained from the customer's cookie or URL information), theproduct ID 802 (shown as the ISBN of the Terrain Skiing book), the storeID 804 (shown as the “skinet” Web site), and the associate commission ID806 (the letter “A”). Once the customer has reviewed the product detailpage 136, the customer can select the “Add it to your Shopping Cart”hyperlink 808. When the customer clicks on this hyperlink 808, themerchant Web server 132 returns a dynamically-generated HTML documentthat displays the contents of the shopping cart.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example HTML document 136 (Web page) correspondingto the customer shopping cart. The customer shopping cart document 136displays information about the products currently selected by thecustomer for prospective purchase. In this example, the selection item902 is displayed to the customer as the “Terrain Skiing” book previouslyselected. From this page 136, the customer may leave the shopping cartpage, without proceeding to check-out, by either selecting the “continueshopping” link 904 or by using a Web browser navigational control toproceed to a different Web page.

FIG. 10 a represents another associate's Web site where the customer canview products featured with editorial comments. For purposes of thisexample, it may be assumed that the customer proceeded directly to thissite (e.g., by selecting a “favorite places” URL) from the shopping cartpage of FIG. 9. If the customer selects the hyperlink 1000, the merchantWeb server returns the product detail page for the “Cooking with DanielBoulud” book, as illustrated in FIG. 10 b. The customer may then addthis book to the shopping cart by selecting the “Add it to your ShoppingCart” hyperlink 1002, and the customer will then be brought to theshopping cart Web page illustrated in FIG. 10 c. The shopping cart nowhas product selection items corresponding to the two books selected bythe customer during the shopping session, and each of these productselection items is stored in the shopping cart database to uniquelyidentify the respective associate that made the referral. When thecustomer selects the “Proceed to Checkout” hyperlink 1004 on theshopping cart Web page, the merchant Web site returns a form document(not shown) that allows the customer to specify payment information,shipping information, and other information needed to process the order.

As illustrated by the above example, one customer shopping cart can haveline items (corresponding to book selections) from many differentassociate Web sites. In addition, the shopping cart can include lineitems of books that have been selected directly from the merchant. Asdescribed above, because the shopping cart keeps track of each referral,the referring associates can efficiently be credited for theirrespective referrals upon order submission, without the need for thecustomer to perform multiple “check-outs.”

The merchant Web site includes credit generation software forcalculating associate referral credit. Referral credit may be calculatedin any of a number of ways depending on the associate and merchantbusiness relationship, and may be provided to the associate on aperiodic basis, such as at the end of each calendar quarter. Forexample, the associate may be paid a fixed percentage of the listselling price. As indicated above, commission payments may be madeautomatically using an appropriate electronic payment method.

As will be appreciated from the foregoing, the shopping cart feature ofthe system enables the customer to view the entire shopping experienceas a seamless, automated shopping session. The seamless nature of thesession allows the customer to shop for products based on the marketingexpertise of the associates, while conveniently utilizing the merchant'sorder fulfillment resources.

6. REPORT GENERATION FUNCTION

The merchant Web site also preferably includes report generationsoftware (FIG. 1) that automatically generates and transmits associatefeedback reports to respective associates, based on information storedby the merchant Web site. The software can be configured to generate thereports on a daily, weekly, monthly and/or annual basis. The informationcontained within these reports enables the associates to evaluate theeffectiveness of their Web sites on a per-product basis.

One report produced by the AMAZON.COM site is the “Weekly ActivityReport.” An example of such a report is included as Appendix B. Thisreport provides information about the number of books ordered throughthe associate's referral links, the number of selections (hits) of eachreferral link, and the amount of referral credit earned on orders in thetime period.

Various other types of information can be provided within the feedbackreports to assist the associates in conducting business. For example,the reports can provide anonymous demographic data about the customersthat made purchases from the associate site, including the geographicregions (as determined from shipping addresses) of such customers.Additionally, the reports can provide special notices, including noticesabout books that pay lower referral credit to associates, and anyproblems occurring with an associate's referral links. The reportgeneration feature also may provide associates with the ability toaccess an on-line menu to generate custom feedback reports (such as areport of the number of referrals during a specific period of time), orto set up a report profile that specifies the content, format andfrequency of the automated reports.

7. CONCLUSION

While the invention has been described herein with reference to certainpreferred embodiments, these embodiments have been presented by way ofexample only, and not to limit the scope of the invention. Accordingly,the scope of the invention should be defined only in accordance with theclaims that follow.

In the following claims, reference characters used to designate claimsteps are provided for convenience of description only, and are notintended to imply any particular order for performing the steps.

1. A computer-implemented method of facilitating the purchase of itemsselected from multiple different web sites, comprising: tracking auser's selections of multiple items from multiple different web sites,wherein each web site corresponds to a different respective businessentity and Internet domain name; presenting the multiple items to theuser as contents of a single, personal shopping cart; providing the useran option to purchase the multiple items from the shopping cart as asingle transaction; and maintaining a record of said shopping cartcontents on a server between user sessions such that the shopping cartremains persistent over multiple user sessions, said server beingseparate from a computer used by the user to make the selections.
 2. Themethod as in claim 1, wherein the multiple web sites are provided by themultiple business entities in affiliation with a merchant that processesthe transaction.
 3. The method as in claim 2, further comprising:transacting a sale of the multiple items to the user; identifying themultiple business entities corresponding to the web sites from which theitems were selected; and in response to the sale, compensating each ofthe multiple business entities.
 4. The method as in claim 3, whereincompensating the multiple business entities comprises paying purchaseprice based commissions to the business entities.
 5. The method as inclaim 1, wherein at least some of the multiple items are services. 6.The method of claim 1, further comprising purging the shopping cart ifthe shopping cart has not been accessed for a selected period of time.7. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the web sites corresponds to adifferent respective Internet domain name.
 8. A system for facilitatingthe purchase of items selected by a user from multiple different websites of multiple different business entities, comprising: a shoppingcart software module which records items selected by the user from themultiple web sites within a personal shopping cart on a server, suchthat the shopping cart remains persistent on the server over multipleuser sessions, wherein the items are selected by the user on a computerthat runs a web browser, said computer being separate from the server;and an ordering software module that enables the user to purchase theitems recorded within the shopping cart, including items selected fromweb sites of multiple different business entities, by placing a singleorder.
 9. The system as in claim 8, wherein the multiple web sites areprovided by the multiple business entities in association with amerchant that processes the order.
 10. The system as in claim 9, whereinthe shopping cart module stores identifiers corresponding to the websites from which items are selected by the user, and the ordering moduleuses the identifiers to compensate the corresponding business entitiesfor resulting sales.
 11. The system as in claim 9, further comprising anenrollment system that at least partially automates a process forbusiness entities to enroll to operate web sites in association with themerchant.
 12. The system as in claim 11, wherein the enrollment systemprovides electronic access to instructions for configuring the web sitesto enable the merchant to track customer referrals.
 13. The system ofclaim 8, wherein the shopping cart software module purges the shoppingcart if the shopping cart has not been accessed for a selected period oftime.
 14. The system of claim 8, wherein the shopping cart softwaremodule records, on said server, items selected by the user from themultiple web sites that each correspond to a different respectiveInternet domain name.
 15. The system of claim 8, further comprising aweb server machine that provides web-based access to the shopping cart.